bruising

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buygirl
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bruising

Post by buygirl »

I have been on Avonex for one month and I am black/blue in every spot that I do the injection. I had the doctor's office do the injection last week and I still got bruised. Any one else have this? How long will it last ?
I do normally bruise easily but I don't want to be bruised all over. The bruises are taking forever to go away.
thanks
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NHE
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Re: bruising

Post by NHE »

buygirl wrote:I have been on Avonex for one month and I am black/blue in every spot that I do the injection. I had the doctor's office do the injection last week and I still got bruised. Any one else have this? How long will it last ?
I do normally bruise easily but I don't want to be bruised all over. The bruises are taking forever to go away.
It sounds as though you may be hitting blood vessels. Another possibility is that you could be injecting the medication too fast.

You may be intested in reading my post about injection site locations.

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/avonex-f5 ... tml#p70084

NHE
buygirl
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Re: bruising

Post by buygirl »

I did hit a blood vessel two weeks ago and that bruise is over 3 inches long/wide. I spoke to the doctor's office and they said for me to try icing afterwards.

I asked them about injecting the medicine slower; I am just not sure that I will enjoy that. I switch to the pen next week so I am hoping that solves some of the problem.

Thanks
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NHE
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Re: bruising

Post by NHE »

buygirl wrote:I did hit a blood vessel two weeks ago and that bruise is over 3 inches long/wide. I spoke to the doctor's office and they said for me to try icing afterwards.

I asked them about injecting the medicine slower; I am just not sure that I will enjoy that. I switch to the pen next week so I am hoping that solves some of the problem.
It's important to keep your leg muscle relaxed. I once had my muscle twitch while doing the injection and that was painful.
neltnerb
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Re: bruising

Post by neltnerb »

I've been taking avonex since summer 2012, and in January discovered that I bruise ridiculously easily now, not even near the injection site. I'm a second degree black belt and was just doing a standard light sparring workout with a friend. I used my leg, but I don't even remember any specific hard hits happening, we were both going pretty light.

The next day, my entire shin from just below the knee to the side of my foot was black and blue on one half of the leg.

It took about a month to go away.

Since this is hardly my first time in the ring, this seems too incredibly coincidental to not be a side effect from the avonex.

Simultaneously, I've also found that a joint injury I suffered a year and a half ago has just *not* healed despite steroids, surgery, anti-inflammatories, and regular ice. The surgery made it stop feeling like an injury and now instead it just hurts all the time. I suspect some similar side effect relating to bruising or inflammation (although I think avonex is an anti-inflammatory, so I don't know -- maybe it's an anti-inflammatory but only regarding nerves and not other tissue).

Very frustrating. Hope it gets better for you, and completely agree with the above poster suggesting that you need to keep your leg muscle relaxed when you do the injection. Tightening a muscle during an impact of this sort is a sure way to cause more damage than required.
kowhai19
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Re: bruising

Post by kowhai19 »

I have transferred from betaferon to avonex due to bruising at injectioins sites. the bruising has occurred for 3 years now, yet the 10 years previous, there was no bruising at all. Today was my first Avonex injection and the same has happened - bruising. Have just had bloods done for coagulation and awaiting results - will post as soon as I get them :)
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lyndacarol
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Re: bruising

Post by lyndacarol »

Easy bruising (ecchymosis) is one of the many symptoms listed by the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center as potentially due to celiac disease; it is not specific to celiac disease alone, but it is common to many conditions.

Celiac disease is just one possibility that should be ruled out (by testing for antibodies/endoscopy or even starting with a mannitol/lactulose test) when seeking a diagnosis for symptoms which may be diagnosed as MS.
My hypothesis: excess insulin (hyperinsulinemia) plays a major role in MS, as developed in my initial post: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-discussion-f1/topic1878.html "Insulin – Could This Be the Key?"
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NHE
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Re: bruising

Post by NHE »

kowhai19 wrote:I have transferred from betaferon to avonex due to bruising at injectioins sites. the bruising has occurred for 3 years now, yet the 10 years previous, there was no bruising at all. Today was my first Avonex injection and the same has happened - bruising. Have just had bloods done for coagulation and awaiting results - will post as soon as I get them :)
Here is a post I wrote some time ago about bruising and Avonex injections.

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/avonex-f5 ... tml#p70083
NHE wrote:I've gotten a small quarter sized bruise on occasion. Over the 9 years I've been on Avonex, this has probably happened roughly less than a half dozen times. I find that the injection goes better for me if I inject in the upper third of my thigh muscle over towards the outside edge (sort of where your middle or ring finger would be if you stuck your hand in your front pants pocket). Most of the time, the injection site doesn't even bleed much and I've found that I need to keep a finger near where I pulled the needle out so I know where to put the band-aid.
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